Michael Jackson confesses: I sleep with boys

Pop superstar Michael Jackson admitted last night in a television documentary that he loves to have young boys sleep in his bed.

Michael Jackson: “It’s what the whole world should do.” (file photo)

What’s more, everyone should do it, says the 44-year-old Jackson, who was accused of sexually molesting a 13-year-old boy a decade ago, and who admits recently encouraging a 12-year-old cancer sufferer to sleep in his bedroom.

“It’s what the whole world should do,” Jackson told interviewer Martin Bashir on the Granada television program, “Living With Michael Jackson,” according to a London Times account. Granada is one of the largest independent television companies in the United Kingdom.

Both Jackson and the cancer patient claim no sexual contact occurred during the sleepovers at Jackson’s Neverland ranch in California.

Ten years ago, parents of 13-year-old Jordan Chandler accused Jackson of sexually molesting their son during overnight stays at his 3,000-acre ranch. After reaching a multimillion-dollar settlement with Jackson, the family dropped the case and no charges were brought against the pop star.

Nevertheless, Tom Sneddon, the district attorney in charge of the Chandler investigation, will be paying close attention to the new allegations of Jackson “sleeping with boys” when the program airs in the U.S. Friday. “We will be watching the program with interest,” a spokesman from his office told the London Times.

According to that report, Jackson granted the interview to Bashir, best known for interviewing Princess Diana, to help rehabilitate his troubled reputation. “Jackson’s friend, Uri Geller, persuaded him to allow Bashir to become part of his entourage for eight months,” reported the Times. “But the resulting film, which has been bought by the U.S. broadcaster ABC for ?3.5 million, could lead to police action against the fallen star.”

Indeed, one executive described it as the “longest suicide note in history,” said the Times.

‘The most loving thing’

According to a London Telegraph account, the singer, when questioned by Bashir about the settlement with Chandler, said: “I didn’t want to do a long drawn-out thing [trial] on TV like O.J. [Simpson] and all that stupid stuff. It wouldn’t look right. I said, ‘Look, let’s get this over with. I want to go on with my life. This is ridiculous. I’ve had enough.”‘

Bashir assumed that, since the Chandler scandal, Jackson was now more circumspect about his houseguests. But to his “utter astonishment,” the interviewer said he discovered while visiting Jackson on his Neverland ranch that children were still sleeping over, “sometimes in his house, sometimes in his bedroom.”

One 12-year-old boy told Bashir he slept in the singer’s bed. Commenting on that occasion, Jackson said he had slept on the floor that night, feeling he was “four” not 44, reported the Telegraph. “I see God in the face of children,” said Jackson. “And man, I just love being around them all the time.”

Jackson admits he still sleeps with young children (photo courtesy The Scotsman)

Although he claimed only “very few” boys had actually stayed in his bed, Jackson strongly defended the practice, saying: “Why can’t you share your bed? The most loving thing to do, is to share your bed with someone.”

Despite persistent questioning from Bashir, Jackson defended his desire to sleep close to young boys, describing the practice as “very charming” and “very sweet.” In fact, he recommended that the interviewer do likewise, sleeping in the same bed as friends of his own children.

According to Jackson, not only do children like to be touched, but the superstar told Bashir he would kill himself if he could not be close to young boys.

The 12-year-old cancer patient, named Gavin, said he met Jackson two years ago, and began sleeping overnight at the superstar’s Neverland ranch with his brother and sister.

On one occasion, reports the Times, Gavin asked to sleep in Jackson’s bedroom: “I was like, ‘Michael, you can sleep in the bed,’ and he was like ‘no, no, you sleep on the bed,’ and I was like ‘no, no, no, you sleep on the bed’ and then he said ‘look if you love me you’ll sleep in the bed.’ I was like, ‘Oh man.’ So I finally slept on the bed. But it was fun that night.”

“We have guest units,” Jackson told the interviewer, “but whenever kids come here they always want to stay with me. They say: ‘Can I stay with you tonight?’ So I go, ‘If it’s OK with your parents, then yes you can.'”

According to the Telegraph report, an uneasy Bashir concluded that Jackson is obsessed with children. But the singer dismissed fears of sexual molestation, saying: “When you say bed, they make that sexual. It’s not sexual. We’re going to sleep.

“I tuck them in and put a little like, er, music on and when it’s story time I read a book and we go to sleep with the fireplace on. I give them hot milk, you know. We have cookies. It’s very charming. It’s very sweet. It’s what the whole world should do.

“If there were no children on this earth, if someone announced all kids were dead, I would jump off the balcony immediately.”

Speaking of balconies, in November Jackson caused gasps around the world when he dangled his baby son, Prince Michael II, over the balcony of a Berlin hotel, appearing briefly to lose control. Santa Barbara County officials are reportedly considering launching an investigation into Jackson’s fitness to be a parent. He has three children.